The present invention relates to deep water oil well leak containment and in particular to a well-head collapsible enclosure for capturing escaping oil from a deep water well-head leak.
Known devices to prevent uncontrolled release of oil into the ocean from underwater well blowouts fall into two categories: a) conical or umbrella-like structures that are lowered from a surface vessel over the blowout, and b) conical or dome-like structures that are permanently installed over the wellhead and that have some means of withdrawing collected oil and gas. None of these devices are permanently deployed in advance of a blowout.
These known approaches all have many disadvantages as evidenced by the fact that none of them are in use. Among the more serious drawbacks are difficult if not impossible tasks of positioning a conical, or other structure, over the venting oil and gas plume, failure to contain all or most of the oil, awkward deployment means which often requires specialized support equipment or vessels, obstruction of the wellhead, interference with normal drilling operations, a requirement that the containment apparatus be pre-positioned in a convenient location on land near the drill site or on the drilling platform, a long time delay between well blowout and spill containment, and the need for special training of crews for placement and or operation.